Tales From Another Broken Home
by alexmarie3
Summary: A Tara fic...Tara's past comes back to haunt her. Sorry the summary is awful. Rating is for drug references. CHAPTER 4 UP!
1. Morning thoughts

**Authors Note: **A Tara fic, because I love her…and we don't know anything about her past. This is stand-alone, no spoilers. It's from Tara's POV, and there is no J/S or M/T because, I'm not a huge J/S fan, and I think M/T is just plain weird. It does, however, involve Stanley. Cuz he's awesome. This isn't a songfic, even though the title is a part of a song.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters, or the show…also the title isn't mine, it's from the Green Day song "Jesus of Suburbia". Don't sue, I'm not making any money from it.

Zzzzzz Zzzzz Zzzzz 

_Stupid alarm_, I thought to myself. I had never before realized how annoying it was. I pressed the Snooze button, but it didn't matter. I was awake. _Time for another day_ I thought. I don't know why I was so grumpy this morning. I glanced at the calendar while I made a pot of coffee. April 23rd. _Happy Birthday to me_. I hadn't even realized it was my birthday. I had just been wrapped up in the case I had just finished.

I then realized that my coffee was done. Wow, that was fast. Back in my room, I looked at the small picture on my dresser. It was the only picture of her I had in my apartment, and I would never admit that I kept it out on my dresser. It was the two of us at our high school graduation. I studied the picture more closely. I didn't look half-bad, for once. My hair was tame, my make-up looked nice. But she looked awful. There were dark circles under her eyes, her smile was weak, and she was very thin. The drugs. She had used to be such a lively person, so much going for her, but the drugs had stopped all that, and I looked at what they had done to her in that picture.

I felt tears well up in my eyes. _Don't cry, Tara_, I said to myself. _Just keep it together._ I considered calling her briefly, but then decided not too. First of all, it was about four in the morning in San Diego. Besides, I didn't want to talk to her. No, I had made a promise to myself 12 years ago that I wasn't going to keep in contact with her, that I was going to shut her out. That was a promise that I had kept for 12 long years. She wrote, e-mailed, called, no doubt getting my contact information from Ashleigh. But despite all those attempts she made to get in touch with me, I'd never surrendered.

I told her that if she got on that plane to San Diego, she could kiss our relationship good-bye. I told her that what she was doing was a mistake, that she should stay in New York with me, she should go to college. But she didn't listen. _Come on Tara_, she had begged. _Can't you support me? Don't you love me?_ Of course I loved her, that's why I didn't want her to go. She couldn't understand that, she insisted that this was her path, and then she got on that plane. That was the last time I ever spoke to her.

I was suddenly snapped back into reality by my alarm going off again, and I realized that I had never actually turned it off. No matter, I was going to be late for work.

In the next chapter, or maybe the one after that, I will reveal who the "she" is. Just be patient! As always, feedback is appreciated .


	2. A blueberry muffin

**Authors Note: **Thanks for the one review….haha. I can't to well if you don't tell me how I'm doing! Sorry that they updates are slightly….few and far between. Between school, Track, violin, my band, my school newspaper, and, um, yeas my social life, I don't have a whole lot of time for updates. But be patient!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters, or the show…also the title isn't mine, it's from the Green Day song "Jesus of Suburbia". Don't sue, I'm not making any money from it.

When I arrived at work, there was a blueberry muffin with a candle stuck in it on my desk. I laughed. Someone had remembered. You know, someone that wasn't me. I looked around the room, but everyone was being normal. I kept looking. If it was Bobby, he would crack if I stared him down long enough. Sure enough, he started chuckling a little bit.

"Ha," I said, "I had a feeling it was you.

"Yeah, well, I just thought you might like a little birthday treat," he responded with a little grin.

I smiled back. It was nice that he had remembered. I didn't think anyone actually knew when my birthday was. My co-workers don't know a whole lot about me. It's better that way. Sue gave me one of her smiles, she was such a sweetheart.

"Happy birthday," she said.

"Thank you," I responded. The moment was nice, and as of right now there was no case needing our immediate attention. _A birthday present from all the terrorists and druggies. I should send out thank-you cards._

Lucy came over to my desk. "So, do you have any plans with Stanley tonight?" she asked with little smile. The little gossip. I love her anyway.

"I don't know," I answered. "To be honest, I actually forgot that today was my birthday before I looked at the calendar this morning, so I have no clue if he remembers."

Bobby looked at me, obviously overhearing our conversation. "You forgot your birthday?" he asked shocked. "Wow, I always know exactly how long until my birthday."

"That's because inside, you're six years old," Myles quipped. I had to laugh. In a way, he was right. Bobby was still a kid inside, which, in a strange way, was kind of nice.

"I take offense in that," Bobby responded. We all knew he was kidding, though. The team always kids around. We were like family, and they were certainly more of a family then my family ever was. Well, except for Ashleigh. I smiled at the thought of my cousin. She was more like a sister to me. With that thought, I remembered the picture from this morning. The picture of her. She and Ashleigh always got along too. The thought of her made my smile disappear. It always does.

"You ok, sheila?" Bobby asked, obviously noticing my changing expression.

"Yeah, you looked like you just went into la-la land over there," Jack added.

"I'm fine," I said with a forced smile, a smile I use so often. The smile, my mask. No one knows. No one ever knows. "I just got distracted for a second."

Sue shrugged. "It happens."

I sat at my desk, and took a bite out of my muffin. It was good. _Really_ good. I'd have to find out where Bobby got it, and go there, pronto. I clicked onto my e-mail, and there was an address there that I didn't recognize. I opened it, and froze. It was from her.

**A/n: Haha, I love cliffhangers. You'll find out who "she" is in the next chapter, I swear! PLEASE review!**


	3. A flood of emotions

**Authors Note: Thank you for the reviews. I promise the chapters are going to start getting longer, the first two were more introductory than anything else. This chapter includes flashbacks of Tara's childhood that will explain her emotions more. The flashbacks are in 3rd person, so you can get a better idea of what everybody was thinking at the critical scenes.**

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, or the show…also the title isn't mine, it's from the Green Day song "Jesus of Suburbia". Don't sue, I'm not making any money from it.

I was stunned. Speechless. I couldn't fully comprehend what was happening. She e-mailed me. My so-called "other-half", my twin sister, had e-mailed me after six years of nothing. After she realized that I wasn't going to forgive her for all the things she had done, she stopped trying to contact me. But here it was, and e-mail as if nothing had ever happened between us.

I read the e-mail, insanely curious as to what prompted her to do this.

_Hey Tar, it's Lana. Happy birthday! I know you're probably wondering why I'm e-mailing you. That is, if you bother to read this at all. I really hope you do, because I needed to tell you that I'm coming to Washington D.C. on the 25th…that is, in two days. I need to talk to you…it's about mom. I know you probably don't want to talk about her, or to her, or want anything to do with her, or me for that matter, but you really need to listen. I need for you to stop being so stubborn, and just listen. Give us a chance. I know she wasn't the greatest of all mothers, but she did what she thought she had to do in the situation. I've forgiven her, and I understand that what she did was for the best. If you don't want to listen, that's fine, but you don't have much of a way around it. I have your address; Ashleigh gave it to me. She isn't holding a grudge against me. You shouldn't be either. In any matter, we'll be discussing all of this later, whether you like it or not. _

_I still love you Tara. I hope you understand that, and that you'll give me a chance to talk. _

_Love,_

_ Lana_

_July 18th, 1982 8:32 AM_

Kathy Williams walked down the crowded New York street unaware of anything happening around her. She had just dropped her 7-year-old twin daughters at her brother's house like she did everyday. She needed someone to watch them while she worked, and their father hadn't even made it past the fifth month of her pregnancy before he bailed on her. The girls liked it at their Uncle Jim's house. Ashleigh was only a year older than them, and at this age, one year meant nothing.

As routine as this morning had seemed, it was all but normal. She wasn't coming back. Kathy clutched her bus ticket. A one-way ticket to San Diego. It was best for the girls. She couldn't provide for them. A young single mom raising two girls in New York City was a disaster waiting to happen. Jim and his wife Whitney could give them a better life. Kathy looked at the picture of her two girls. Tara…the smart one. The quiet one. The funny one. Lana…wild one. The rebel. The free spirit. They were identical, but different in every way. She felt tears well up in her eyes.

Kathy reached the bus stop. She handed her ticket to the bus driver, and boarded the bus quietly. This was the right decision. Tara and Lana would hate her, but hopefully, someday, they will learn to forgive her. Someday.

_October 4th, 1991 5:36 PM_

There was something up with Lana. Tara knew that. How much trouble can a 16-year-old girl get into? Lana was at the library now. Tara tapped her foot. Ashleigh was in the shower. Uncle Jim was in Texas on business. Aunt Whitney was at the grocery store. If she was going to snoop, now was the perfect time. Tara went into the bedroom that she and Lana shared, and started to look around. She didn't know what she was looking for. First, she looked under the bed. Nothing. Then, in the dresser. Nothing again. Tara glanced around the room. Lana's backpack. She unzipped the front compartment. Just a pencil case. Tara nervously unzipped the pencil case, and her eyes widened as she looked inside. Rolling papers. She dug into the case further, and pulled out a little plastic bag. Marijuana. Tara's hand shook with the bag in it. All of a sudden, she heard a voice behind her.

"What are you doing?" Tara turned around, terrified that Lana had found her. She breathed a sigh of relief. It was Ashleigh, standing there in a robe. "What's in that bag?"

Tara looked at her with wide eyes. "It's not mine. I-I found it in Lana's pencil case."

Ashleigh took a step closer, and gasped when she saw the bag. "Is that… is that pot?"

Tara nodded. "And rolling papers," she added.

"What are we going to do?"

"Well, we could talk to her."

"Talk to Lana?" Ashleigh asked, stunned. "When has Lana ever listened to a thing we say?"

All of a sudden, they heard a voice behind them. "Try me."

Tara and Ashleigh spun around. It was Lana.

"What are you doing looking through my backpack?" She asked accusingly, anger obvious in her eyes. "No one respects my privacy around here!"

"Lana, we need to talk," Tara responded, holding up the bag of drugs.

"No, we don't."

Ashleigh stared at Lana, not sure how to feel. A mix of terror, anger, and hurt filled her heart. "These things can kill you, Lana!"

"Well, this is my body, my life!" she retorted. With that she stormed out of the room.

Tara was stung. This was her sister. They told each other everything. This wasn't the old Lana. Tara stared at the bag of drugs with anger. They were killing her sister, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

_April 29th, 1993 3:23 AM_

Lana shook her sister to wake her up. She shouldn't be doing this at 3:30 in the morning, but she couldn't wait. Tara opened her eyes groggily.

"Lana? What are you doing?"

"Tara, we're officially 18."

"Thanks for the notice, but I figured that out by the party on Saturday."

"No, you don't understand. I did a little…research. Called a couple people. I'm 18, so people gave me answers. I found her."

Tara couldn't connect the dots this early in the morning. "You found who?"

"Mom."

Tara bolted up in bed. "You _what_?" She snapped.

"I found mom. She's living in San Diego. I'm going to live with her. Right after graduation."

"What about college?"

"I'll take some time off. Maybe go to college out there"

"How can you do this?" Tara asked bitterly, with tears in her eyes. "How can you forgive her, after all these years? After she left us, abandoned us? Does she even want you?"

"I called her. I talked to her. She did what she thought was best for us…" Tara shook her head as Lana spoke, defending the woman they called their mother, who abandoned them so many years ago. There was no way she could ever forgive Kathy Williams. And if Lana couldn't see that, then maybe she couldn't have a relationship with Lana either.

_April 23rd, 2005 8:07 AM_

Twelve years later, Lana wanted to talk. Memories ran through my head, emotions tangled up inside of me. _This isn't happening_. I was so confused. I didn't know what to feel. Confusion…anger…sadness…hurt…feelings I had stored away so long ago, memories I had blocked out all came back to me. The dam was broken. I remembered Aunt Whitney telling Lana and me that mommy wasn't coming home. I remembered first finding the drugs in Lana's backpack. I remembered when Lana woke me up at 3:30 in the morning to tell me that she was going out to San Francisco. I remembered the airport. I remembered when Lana called me at school, and I hung up on her. All these events, the puzzle pieces to my life. The tale of another broken home.

I stared at my computer screen with a blank face for five minutes. Finally, Lucy called out, "Tara, what's wrong over there?"

"N-nothing," I stammered out, tears threatening to drop. "I-I have to go," With that, I ran out of the office, and into the bathroom. I needed to regain my composure.

This was it. It was happening. After 12 long years, I was going to have to face my sister again, and there was no way out of it.


	4. The bitterness of a tear

**Authors Note: I am so sorry it took so long. First, I couldn't decide where to go with this chapter. Then life started getting CRAZY and I haven't even been on the computer for about a week and a half. But here it is. FINALLY! Oh, and this chapter has a slight spoiler for the episode "Prodigal Father", but it doesn't affect the story, so if you haven't seen the episode, then don't worry.**

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, or the show. I'm just borrowing them. Also the title isn't mine, it's from the Green Day song "Jesus of Suburbia". Don't sue, I'm not making any money from any of it.

Wow, I'm pathetic. Right now, I'm realizing what just happened. I got an e-mail from my sister, I freaked out, I ran to the bathroom, and now I'm sitting here ready to cry. Why? Why do I want to cry? It's my sister, for goodness sake. My _sister_. Who runs away from their sister? Not only that, but my twin sister. Identical twins, we look freakishly alike. We had some fun with that when we were kids, even in high school. I remember the time when I was 14 and decided that I didn't want to be "TaraOrLana", I wanted to be Tara, so I tried to die my hair bright, wine red. What I didn't know that on my already blonde hair, it would come out bright pink. Yeah, that was interesting. At least people didn't confuse us.

Now that I think about it, we were pretty tight. We used to serve detention for each other if one of us had plans. Come to think of it, it was mostly me serving detention for Lana. But she would go to gym for me sometimes, and I would go to biology for her, because we had it during the same period. That worked out well. We never did get caught. I'm telling you, it's freakish how identical we are.

We also had some really great times together. Once, when we were 17, we convinced my aunt to let Ashleigh and us go to a Bangles concert in New Jersey, unsupervised. That was a lot of fun. I still remember all those fun times. The bad ones usually shadow them, though.

I took a deep breath in and regained my composure. _Aw, crap, I left the e-mail open on my computer._ I thought. _Lucy is probably reading it right now_. That's the trouble with her. She has to know everything. Occasionally, it is endearing, but most of the time, it's just plain annoying.

Sure enough, when I walked back into the bullpen, everyone just kind of looked at me. They were all at there desks, but I knew something was up.

"What is everyone staring at?" I ask innocently.

"You look at your computer, turn white as a ghost, then run out of the room, and you expect that everyone is going to ignore it?" Myles answered in his snide way.

I rolled my eyes. "Look, if you guys read the e-mail, then just tell me." I looked around. No one responded. "Come on," I encouraged. "I _promise_ I won't be mad." Still no response. "Are you telling me that in this room full of gossips, no one bothered to look at what made me upset?"

"You make it sound like we're a bunch of 90-year-old women," Jack said.

"Yeah, we have respect for your privacy," Lucy added. "Although, if you want to tell us what it is, that would be _perfectly_ fine with me."

I inhaled deeply, then exhaled it in a big sigh, thinking. Maybe I should tell them. Wow, this secret that I've worked so hard to keep for a dozen years, now I was considering telling all of these people. But, they're like family. I should tell them. "Ok," I began. "But you have to promise not to say a word until I'm done. This is gonna be hard enough as it is."

"Fair enough." Bobby said.

"Alright, first of all, the e-mail was from my sister-"

"You have a sister?" D cut me off. That happened sooner than expected.

"Yeah," I answered, giving him a look. "An identical twin."

"You mean, there's two of you?" Myles asked. I should have expected it. I just ignored him

"Look, do you want me to tell you the story, or not?"

"Sorry," D said. "Continue."

"Anyway," I continued, "as I was saying the e-mail was from my sister, Lana. The reason that was so surprising, is that Lana and I haven't spoken in 12 years." Bobby let out a low whistle. "She said that there was something up with my mom, and she, Lana that is, is coming to DC in two days. The thing is, I haven't seen my mom since I was seven years old. I never met my dad, so when my mom split, Lana and I were raised my aunt and uncle, my mom's brother. Lana had some issues when we were teenagers, and she fell into drugs. When we turned 18, she found my mother, living in San Diego, and skipped college to go live with her. The thing is, I never forgave my mother for leaving us, so when Lana decided to forgive her, and throw her life away for this woman," I was almost in tears now, "I told her to kiss our relationship goodbye. So, she wrote me a couple of times right after the move, she had gotten my address from my cousin, Ashleigh, but I never responded. About six years ago, the letters stopped coming. Until now." I felt a tear run down my cheek, and onto my chapped lips, which stung with the salty bitterness. Everyone was silent. I let out a half-laugh half-cry. "Isn't someone gonna say something?"

Sue was the first one to speak up. "Tara, I am so sorry," She said.

"Don't be," I told her, "It's not like you have anything to be sorry about."

"Well, I-I just don't know what else to say."

"I understand," I said. "That is the first time I have ever told that story. I didn't realize how much I was holding in."

"So, what are you going to do?" Jack asked me.

"I guess…I'm gonna see her. I mean, I don't know what else I can do." The whole situation was overwhelming. My head was spinning.

"Maybe…you should go home, relax, think," Sue offered.

I shook my head. "No, I have some stuff to do here. I'll be fine." Sue looked worried still, but I ignored her concern. Working would be good for me. Looking around, I realized that no one had moved in since I finished my story. "We have work to do, people." With that, everyone started going back to their desks, working. But they kept looking at me. I wish they would stop that. I'm a normal person, with a not-so-normal childhood. It's not like I'm the only person with that problem. Bobby's dad left when he was six, although at least he had a mother. I really needed to get back to work. Work sounds really good right about now.

As I walked into my apartment, I noticed that the red light on my answering machine was blinking. I clicked the play button and listened to a message from Stanley telling me that he was taking me out to dinner tonight for my birthday, and to look nice when he got there at 8:00. I smiled. That was exactly what I needed right now. Maybe it would take my mind off of the events of today. I looked at the clock. 6:56. Shoot. I quickly got into the shower and washed my hair, the proceeded to get ready for tonight.

A/N: So, that's where I'm gonna leave it for now. Feedback would be beautiful. Next chapter: Tara tells Stanley, and prepares herself for Lana coming.


	5. Authors Note

Ok, I'm still working on chapter five, but I wanted to let you know that I am going to Myrtle Beach for a week, and I should be back on Sunday 4/24, hopefully with the update then. Thanks for your patience and your reviews!


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